Everything Changes
by writewithurheart
Summary: Caitlin has been feeling things recently for Barry, feelings that she most definitely should NOT be having, but Barry notices her acting weirdly and decides he needs to do something about it. Post 1x07


_A/N: Just a little drabble idea that I got. This is my first Flash fic. I hope you like it! _

**Everything Changes**

She doesn't know why she does it. Honestly. It's not like she intended for this to happen. It was inevitable really, and it sucked because she knew what was happening and she wasn't ready for it. Uh-uh, not in the slightest. God, she's so stupid. She's supposed to be the rational one, the logical one, but then her heart decides to go think for itself and it makes a royal mess of things.

"Hey. You okay?"

She jumps into the air, head flying back from the microscope lens she's been staring at for the last fifteen minutes without seeing anything. She brushes her auburn hair back from her eyes and offers him a weak smile. "Yeah, I'm great. Fine. I...just can't get anywhere with this DNA sample. All the cells are acting like they should. Are you sure this guy was a metahuman?"

Barry nods, frowning as Caitlin starts fiddling with the equipment around her lab, pulling up screens of the same blood analysis she was just looking at through the microscope. He knows she's not telling him something, but he decides to let it go. She'll tell him when she's ready.

"Pretty sure. He did manage to get some very solid hits in and, I don't know if you noticed, but I'm pretty good at dodging."

She can't help the smile that springs to her lips and her eyes lock with his. One of them really should look away, she thinks, but she can't make her body move from the gravity drawing their eyes together. She expects him to look away first and he does, ducking his head and running a hand through his hair. He returns a bashful smile as he looks back up at her. He's such a dork, especially when he does that awkward, gangly smile thing. It almost makes him look like he's still a teenager. She never went for the bean-pole skinny type. Sure she's been friends with more than her fair share of boys like him, but she always ended up falling for the more rugged men, men with good hearts and solid morals. Barry might not be rugged, but he certainly had those last two going for him.

"I didn't actually see him use any abilities, but I'm a bit faster than the average human."

She sighs, sifting through the rendering of the blood from the microscope on the tablet. She turns the tablet to show him the perfectly normal sample. "Well, this blood sample is completely normal, no mutations. See? So unless you grabbed a different blood sample..."

He shakes his head, frowning in confusion. "No. It's definitely his. I could have sworn..." Then he shrugs. "But then who could have kept up with me?"

Caitlin shrugs. She walks away from him, no longer able to face him without staring and she hates that her feelings are getting the better of her. This was supposed to just be a job, a job to help people, yes, but a job all the same. He wasn't supposed to be able to drag her out of her shell like this, to make her _feel_. A part of her died when Ronnie did. He shouldn't have been able to drag back from that loneliness. But she can't hate him.

No...what she feels for him is most definitely not hate.

"Are you sure you're okay, Caitlin? You seem distracted."

She freezes again as he steps in front of her, back to looking into her eyes with that probing look she imagines can see right into her soul. "I'm just..."

He tilts his head and she tries to control the slight tightening of her throat.

"Nothing. I just haven't been getting a lot of sleep." She returns the tablet to the table and sweeps back to the table of computers, computers updated by the perky blonde IT genius from Starling. "I'm using Felicity's...software thing...to run his DNA through the system. If there's a match I'm sure it'll find it."

"Yeah, but...Caitlin, if you're not getting sleep maybe you should head home early tonight."

She can't handle his concern at the moment, the way his brown eyes are boring into her like he can read her mind and glean all her secrets from that one probing look.

"Shouldn't you be having some secret, rooftop meeting with Iris?" She asks, wincing at the iciness slipping into her voice. She still doesn't like the idea, doesn't trust him speaking with _her_, but it'll distract him from these questions.

His brow furrows as he steps back like he was verbally slapped, his eyes losing some of their intensity. He purses his lips and then nods with newfound determination. "I've got a better idea." Barry starts pulling her down the hallway. "We're going to go have some fun."

She can't escape the shocked shriek that escapes her right before they speed away. "What?!"

...

Barry smirks as he watches her reaction. She blinks, turning around to stare at the bright twinkle lights decorating the park. He noticed them earlier this week while he was zipping around and he figured she'd like them. The surprised smile and wonder in her eyes tell him it was a good decision. He likes this smile. It makes him smile back.

"I didn't realize the lights were up already," she whispers, spinning in a circle.

He smiles wryly. "That's because you spend all your time at STAR labs."

She shoots him a playful glare, but the smile is back in an instant. She tries to suppress it for a moment, biting her bottom lip. Another glance at him and it comes back with a vengeance and a happy giggle, a sound he's never heard come from her mouth before.

"Thank you, Barry." She reaches for his hand, squeezing it before walking over to the nearest decorated tree and staring up at it.

"Who would have thought the great Doctor Snow would be wonderstruck by trees covered in Christmas lights?"

She throws him a look as she rounds the tree, eyes reflecting the lights from the trees as her eyes are dragged back. "I love the lights. I learned they did this my first year in Central City and I've visited it ever since. There's just been so much going on this year that I didn't realize what time of year it was." She pauses and brandishes a finger at him. "If you tell Cisco about this, I will-"

"I won't tell him," he promises before she can finish her threat. In all honesty, he hadn't even thought of that. He wants to keep this a private moment between the two of them. No one else. And he has no idea where the sentiment came from.

"Barry?"

He starts, turning around to the voice he would recognize anywhere. "Iris?" And then they light on a familiar blonde cop that he's surprisingly happy to see. "Eddie! I wasn't expecting to see you here."

He feels Caitlin join him. Iris summons a polite smile. "Caitlin. I didn't see you there. So what brings you to the park?"

"I needed to get out of the lab," Caitlin offers, her hand lands on his upper arm in a platonic gesture and a comforting squeeze. "Barry was worried I was spending too much time alone there."

"Barry's thoughtful like that," Iris responds with a glint in her eye, a glint he last saw when Felicity came to town and she tried to set them up. He barely stops himself from rolling his eyes.

"Well, since we're all here, why don't we walk together?" Eddie suggests with a bright smile.

Barry and Caitlin exchange a look, both on the same page in tandem shaking their heads. "No."

"Actually, I think we're good. Enjoy the park," Barry says with a bright smile, looping his arm through Caitlin's to drag her away down a path in the opposite direction. He pulls her closer, slipping the arm up, over her shoulder and pulling her into his side. He's taking liberties, he knows he is, but he doesn't want to stop.

Caitlin leans into him, allowing herself a single moment of comfort in his arms. The buzzing of his phone interrupts the moment and he pulls it from his pocket without dislodging his grip. He looks at the new message and snorts, turning the phone to show Caitlin.

**She's cute! **

As she looks at the screen another message appears:

**You didn't tell me you were dating! **

He sighs, slipping the phone back into his pocket.

Caitlin frowns. "Aren't you going to respond?"

"Nope." He continues to meander down the path, eyes scanning the park and taking in the bright lights.

"No?"

He shakes his head again with a growing smirk, gaining more and more confidence in his decision. Her confusion is written all over her face. She tries to move away, but at his gentle pressure she relaxes back into his side. His smirk widens into a lopsided smile. He glances sideways at her and then turns back to the path.

"Barry, what-"

"Shhh. Just enjoy the moment," he whispers back.

"Barry..."

He sighs, slowing to a walk. His hand slips from around her shoulder, sliding down to clasp her hand as he moves to face her. He glances up at the sky for a deep breath and then meets her intelligent, curious eyes again. "Caitlin Snow, would you like to go to dinner with me?"

She frowns and her mouth opens and closes in shock for a moment. She glances back down the path, pointing. "But what about Iris? I thought-"

"That I was hung up on Iris." He nods as he finishes her statement. He had thought that too, until he realized the shifting. He was changing and more than just in result to being struck by lightning. He runs a thumb over her knuckles, grabbing her other hand too. "It's okay if you're not ready."

And it really is because he understands. She lost her fiancé in the explosion that gave him abilities. He's just happy she's smiling again. He wouldn't mind her smiling more.

"You're serious?" She brushes her hair back in what he's come to recognize as a nervous tick. And he sees something in her eyes, a glimmer of desire that gives him hope.

He nods slowly, eyes glued to hers, not daring to look away.

She smiles then, a slight twitching at the corners of her mouth before it blossoms into an eye-crinkling grin. "Okay."

"Okay?" His eyes widen, still not sure he heard what he thought he did.

"Okay."

He laughs, a wide grin stretching his face as he pulls her back under his arm and resumes their stroll. "How does tomorrow night at seven sound?"

She nods, drifting along beside him with a happy smile gracing her face. She leans more into his side now, relaxing in his presence in a way she hasn't in weeks. And it makes him happy, makes him smile just like her, floating on air because this feels right.

He's glad he decided to bring her here tonight. It was a good decision because now everything's changed and he couldn't be happier.


End file.
